Jilly’s Cupcake Bar
When I commented on cupcakes the other day, I noticed Jilly’s actually serves lunch. So for the five of you that actually read this, (hey Mike , Ian , Mom, Dad, Dan) I took one for the team today. I sucked it up and I took a picture in a restaurant, and I feel exactly the way I expected too. Add to that the sister of the owner coming over and asking me “are you a photographer” and the level of embarrassment I soared to was incredibly high. I found out they’ve been in business 7 weeks at this point, and she was nice. Really nice actually.
As expected when you name a place Jilly’s, make it all pinks and purples, and put it on the edge of Clayton/Ladue in University City, it was filled mostly with women.
For lunch I had the tarragon chicken salad on challah . If you’ve never had challah, it’s similar, but not as rich, to brioche as it traditionally uses a lot of eggs. Because of the eggs, it’s usually somewhat moist. I’m not sure where this challah came from, but it was incredibly dry. This could have been made up for if the chicken salad, as a whole, had been moist, but it was not.
The chicken itself, what little was there, was moist and it tasted nicely of tarragon, an herb that in my opinion goes underutilized. But, as with most chicken salad, there wasn’t enough mayonaise and it was lacking seasoning, especially pepper. All sandwiches come with sides, and I chose the slaw. Containing apples, it was tangy and actually pretty good. Overall, the sandwich was just ok, and for $7.25, I’d have physcially expected more chicken salad.
Obviously, the thing everyone’s been wondering about though, are the cupcakes. When you walk in the front door, you’re immediately greeted by a Dean & Deluca style display of cupcakes behind a glass barrier. They were as dressed up as cupcakes could be, and I had two.
First, I selected the Bee Sting described as vanilla cake, honey custard, honey lemon syrup, lemon cream cheese mousse frosting, toasted almonds, white chocolate bark with crushed lemon candies. I have to say, it was cute. The almonds had stripes of white chocolate on them so they looked like little bees. I love lemon cake, and from a flavor standpoint everything tasted great. I can’t really elaborate on it, because it’s still just a cupcake, but once again, just like the challah it was dry. The only bites that weren’t dry were the ones with custard, and there were only about two of those. I assumed that the honey lemon syrup was to soak the cake to keep it from being dry, but either I assumed wrong, or they forgot it.
Now, Ellie will tell you that there are two things I love more then just about anything and consider myself a bit of an expert on. One is meatloaf. The other is carrot cake. I’d not planned on getting a second cupcake. Carrot was what I’d originally wanted, but they were out, and it was then that I selected the Bee Sting. When I was about to leave, however, they brought up a fresh tray so I had them box up my Bee Sting (which I took with me to take a picture) and the carrot cake and I headed out.
The carrot cake says it’s carrot cake, vanilla syrup, vanilla whipped cream, vanilla creamcheese frosting, toasted coconut, white chocolate shaving and candied carrot. This was the one I was most excited about, but when I got back to the office, the challah plague struck again. It was almost as if they’d iced a muffin. There was definitely vanilla sryup in this one, because you could really taste it, but it didn’t help make it much moister. I also didn’t personally care for this much vanilla flavoring in carrot cake.
A carrot cake is supposed to highlight two things in my opinion: the spice, and the cream cheese icing. This one lacked spice, and the icing, because it had been whipped so much wasn’t the dense cream cheese frosting most lovers of carrot cake enjoy. Also, in my experience, using some brown sugar instead of white sugar helps to keep the moisture content up, and also adds a depth to the cake that helps to excentuate the spiciness.
Regrettably I didn’t have any buttercream in this first visit. I thought the Bee Sting was buttercream when I ordered it, but obviously I was wrong. I appologize for that, and I applogize to the owners sister. You were so nice, so I feel a bit mean.
So in the end, while I think Jilly’s definitely has room for improvement, I hope they do so. It has the potential to be a neat addition to St. Louis as it’s the kind of place ladies can go for a luncheon without having to stoop to the overly effected, sub par tea rooms of yore.
Let me know how your cupcakes are if you go, I’ll definitely be going back for some buttercream.
10 Responses to “Jilly’s Cupcake Bar”
I don’t know what’s been happening this last week or two! In the first [3?] weeks of them being open, the cupcakes were nicely moist, but in the last week and a half or so, the cupcakes we’ve gotten have been fairly dry. Whatever change they’ve made, I hope they change it back, because the during first few weeks, I was addicted!
(Personally, I’m a fan of the Chocolate Thunder and the PB&J cupcakes, and I’m patiently waiting for their upcoming red velvet cupcakes…)
By Eric on Sep 14, 2007
Thanks for the tip. The PB&J was next on my hit list. There’s only so many you can eat in one sitting though. I about keeled over from the sugar buzz after eating two in a row because I don’t eat a lot of sugar generally.
By bb on Sep 15, 2007
I’m taking this a different direction, you mentioned meat loaf. Would you give a lowdown on your favorite loafs in the area? I’ve never had one here that I particularly liked.
By Dan D. on Sep 17, 2007
I loved the breakfast burrito! I also ordered 2 cupcakes (vanilla & carrot cake). The lady at the counter told me that the carrot cake cupcake had no nuts. I’m allergic. So I went home and discovered nuts in the cupcake. I tried to call,but had to leave a message about this. I’m still waiting to hear from Jilly. By the way the other cupcake was dry.
By J9 on Sep 28, 2007
I hate to say it but the cupcakes are still dry. The brisket was tasty as was the two-potato salad (with apple slices!) but their cupcakes while pretty to look at do not measure up in taste satisfaction.
By lp on Oct 23, 2007
I was at Jilly’s three days ago with my husband and another couple. I tried the cappuccino cupcake. It was pretty, but it was dry. Jilly came by our table and talked, was very friendly, etc. but we won’t go back. We’ve had the experience (and it was a noisy one, we couldn’t hear the other people at our table speaking it was so loud), and came away disappointed. I’ll try the Cupcakery and see what I think. Friends of mine claim their cupcakes are far superior (read: moist!) than Jilly’s.
By Pattie on Oct 27, 2007
It seems more than one person thinks Jilly has some dry cupcakes….taken from 11/1/07 RFT:
One aspect bedeviled several of Jilly’s cupcakes: good or very good frosting, but too-dry cake. So while the “Chocolate Thunder” offered a decadent blend of white chocolate mousse and milk chocolate buttercream, it also featured chocolate cake that, even with chocolate syrup and dark chocolate ganache filling, wasn’t moist enough. Same went for the “PB and ‘J’illy.”
By Mac on Nov 1, 2007
Hi, this Jill, owner of Jilly’s cupcake bar. I know that we had some issues in the past, but I am positive you will change your mind….our chocolate cupcakes are very, very moist. So are all the other cupcakes. Please be my guest for a free cupcake…Just print out this email…Jilly
By Jill on Apr 8, 2008
Had a tasty lunch at Jilly’s today! The spinach salad was delicious and the Carmelita cupcake fantastic and, yes, very moist. Also experienced very friendly service.
By Pat M. on Jul 22, 2008